After flying in from Da Nang late in the evening we settled into our new hostel and went straight to bed. The next day we booked onto a tour of the Ho Chi Minh tunnels and headed straight to the bus station. We went on one of the main touristy visits to the tunnels however, it was the easiest way to get there and was pretty interesting. Our guide showed us the hidden traps and tunnels in the area and some of the warefare that was used to win the war. The tunnels were tiny and I couldn't believe that people lived in them for months at a time. They were also too small for American sized men and if they discovered a tunnel were unlikely to be able to follow anyone in them. There was a set of tunnels that had been made larger for tourists and we were able to crawl through them. The size of these tunnels is apparent when navigating them and although we had light in our tunnels they were still very caustrophobic. Once the tunnel started to narrow and shrink in size I had to get out through one of the exits before the end. You get the sense when in there that if anything happened, it would be very hard to rectify it. After returning from the tour it was soon time for Stubbs to leave us and go back home. We still another two days in the city. After saying goodbye to our travel companon of a month we started to get ready to go out. That day was also Leonie's birthday so we dediced to celebrate with dinner, drinks and a sky bar and a night with the hostel on a bar crawl. The evening was sucessful with us both very drunk and questioning the events of the evening! The next day we stayed in bed as long as possible and then decided to head out with a few others to the Vietnam War Musuem. For a hangover it was very harrowing but important to visit. The images of what both sides had done to each other in the war was very poinant. That evening we went to the night market to do some more shopping and had dinner in a pop-up street stall. We then joined the hostel for some drinks in the bar but, due to the heavy night the night before we decided to stay in. The next day was our final day in Ho Chi Minh and in Vietnam. We felt like we had done the main bits of Ho Chi Minh so spent the day wondering around the streets looking at a few sites. We visited the Notre Dame of Vietnam, the original Post Office, the goverement buildings and the large indoor market one more time but mostly like wondered for something to do. Our taxi was booked for 7ish so we went back to the hostel and packed everything one more time and relaxed in the movie room until our taxi arrived. We then went out to the street behind to grab some dinner and one last beer with a friend we had made over the last few days in Ho Chi Minh. Once at the airport we prepared for the final two flights of the trip back to England. Our trip to Asia this summer was amazing and it ignited my enjoyment of backpacking once again. I met several travellers, travelling alone which gave me the courage to try it myself. This September I plan to go to Austrailia to start a work-holiday by myself. I can't wait!
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Hi! I'm Holly, a twenty something traveller from the UK. Over the years I've been lucky enough to live and travel in many countries. I've studied in America and working holidayed in Australia and New Zealand! I currently live in South Korea. Learn more about me below!
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